Tour their eras? Radiohead’s extended play is set to perform in its first concert since 2018 | Radiohead

Radiohead chose Madrid as the location for their first concert since 2018, kicking off a 20-date European tour with a crowd-pleasing but unpredictable setlist inspired by almost all of their nine studio albums.

If it weren’t for Oasis, it might have been the most anticipated rock tour of the year. Radiohead haven’t recorded a studio album since 2016, and each band member has been involved in other successful and creatively stimulating projects, so fans are beginning to wonder if they might never hear from them again.

But there was excitement last year when news broke that the band had reconvened for informal rehearsals, then a frantic rush for tickets when the new shows were announced in September, and finally a rapturous reception in Madrid for this concert on the tour.

With little to chat with the audience other than the occasional “thank you”, the British quintet played a 21-song set, opening with “Let Down” from their 1997 album OK Computer, and adding other songs from the highly acclaimed first half of their career including Paranoid Android, Karma Police, Fake Plastic Trees, Idioteque and No Surprises.

But while they didn’t shy away from popular songs, they didn’t have much success, bringing in several album tracks and drawing heavily from 2003’s “Hail to the Thief.”

An hour or so before the sun rose over Madrid, Francisco Budo had staked out a vantage point in front of the city’s massive Movistar Arena. He was among the first Radiohead fans to arrive at the venue, full of anticipation.

“I’m very excited. I don’t think this is real,” said the 27-year-old, who came from Italy. “It’s been so long that even if they played the same song 20 times in a row, I’d be happy.”

The hours passed quickly as fans planned where to position themselves in front of the circular stage, reveling in the fact that they were among the lucky ones to get tickets to a tour that sold out in minutes.

The war in Gaza was another topic brought up throughout the day, as the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel called on people to boycott the tour, citing band member Jonny Greenwood’s 2024 performance in Tel Aviv.

The topic appears to still be sensitive for the band: after The Guardian reported on the boycott call in September, its journalists were denied tickets to review the Madrid concert. The band did not comment on the decision.

In Spain, where hundreds of thousands took to the streets in solidarity with Palestine, the band’s actions baffled some fans.

Lola, 22, who asked that her last name not be published, said: “It would have been nice if they had talked about it earlier.” “As a Radiohead fan, I was a bit disappointed. But at least I think they’ve learned their lesson.”

She pointed to an incident last year in Melbourne, when the band’s frontman, Thom Yorke, briefly walked off the stage during a solo concert after a Palestinian advocate shouted: “How many dead children would it take to condemn the genocide in Gaza?”

Lola said that was not the right way to respond. “I didn’t like that reaction.” But in the end, music won her over. “Obviously I can’t control how I feel when I listen to music… I really wanted to come and listen to the sounds and sounds that I’ve been listening to since I was 12 years old.”

Yorke later issued a statement saying the incident in Melbourne left him “in shock that my supposed silence was somehow viewed as complicity”, describing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his administration as “extremists” who “need to be stopped”.

Before the European tour, Yorke told The Sunday Times that he would “absolutely not” perform in Israel. He added: “I don’t want to be 5,000 miles away anywhere near the Netanyahu regime.”

Some defended the band, citing their long history of activism. “They have always stood for peace, and they cannot change now,” Alessandra Fossati said. “I think people who know them know they’re on the right side.”

Tuesday’s concert was the 50th time she has seen Radiohead perform, having become hooked when she first saw them live in 1995.

This time she got tickets to five of the shows: opening night in Madrid and every show in her native Italy.

“They always change from record to record, they never do the same thing,” she said, showing off her two Radiohead-themed tattoos. “I mean I was a U2 fan but they keep doing the same things. And after a while you get bored.”

For some, the fact that the band went seven years without performing together has injected a sense of urgency into the new tour.

“There may not be another chance,” Luca Arreaza (20 years old) said, sparking laughter from those waiting next to him. “Radiohead is very old at this point.” “So it was worth it to come here and share this moment.”

The band, formed while they were both at school in Oxfordshire in 1985, have become synonymous with cerebral, atmospheric and – non-fans might say – bleak rock. They can still easily fill arenas thanks to a string of nine studio albums that range from solid to downright classic.

Their debut, 1994’s Pablo Honey, contained their breakthrough hit Creep, which spent most of the last four months in the UK Top 100 as the band gained a new generation of fans. Let Down, from third album OK Computer, also returned to the charts this year.

OK Computer is considered by many critics to be the greatest rock album of the 1990s, although appreciation is higher for its follow-up Kid A, for which the band expanded into electronic music.

Their sixth album, 2007’s In Rainbows (made available via download for which fans can set their own price) is considered another creative peak, but the band’s sense of adventure was clearly still felt in the albums since then, The King of Limbs (2011) and A Moon Shaped Pool (2016).

Yorke has released a series of solo and group albums, most recently with his trio The Smile, alongside Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar/keyboards).

Greenwood has had great success as a film composer, having received two Academy Award nominations for Phantom Thread and The Power of the Dog, and may receive a third nomination for One Battle After Another, the fifth of his collaborations with director Paul Thomas Anderson.

Guitarist Ed O’Brien released his debut solo album in 2020, and drummer Phil Selway released his third album in 2023. Guitarist Colin Greenwood has been a collaborator for artists including Nick Cave, and in 2024 published How to Disappear: A Portrait of Radiohead, a book containing his photographs of Radiohead taken between 2003 and 2016.

Another waiting fan was Sergio Zapater, who arrived with his luggage after taking the morning train from Valencia.

The last time the 53-year-old saw Radiohead was 22 years ago. This time, he arrived at the venue more than nine hours before the concert was scheduled to start, certain that he would be first in line.

Instead, he found himself confronted with the reality that a new generation – one that didn’t seem to mind the wee hours or standing in queues – had fallen in love with Radiohead’s “sophisticated, refined and poignant” tunes.

“I was surprised to have all these young people here,” he said, laughing. “It was annoying. I thought I would be first in class because old people don’t do these things. But now I’m 25th.”

After four nights in Madrid, Radiohead’s tour will move on to Bologna, London, Copenhagen and Berlin, ending on December 12.